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From our fabulous News Hawks!

Have you seen a TG-related news story online or in your local paper? Send it in to TGF and become a News Hawk! Don't assume we know everything that's out there, because you are our eyes and ears. To file a story, send it in to Cindy.



Settlement Reached With UK TS Lawyer

Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
via NewsPlanet
November 18, 1998

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on November 18 reached a confidential settlement with transsexual barrister Susan Marshall, who had been offered a job with the service as a man only to have it withdrawn when she began her transition to living as a woman. A spokesperson said that, "The CPS recognizes the distress caused to Ms. Marshall by the withdrawal of employment at the time she had expressed an intention to undergo gender reassignment."

In 1992, while still presenting in her male birth gender and using her birth name of Simon Stone, the CPS was ready to hire Marshall, and according to Marshall was "very keen" to have him. Soon after, Marshall determined to live as a woman and to begin treatment, and wrote a letter so advising then-Director of Public Prosecutions Barbara Mills. Mills responded with a letter withdrawing the CPS' job offer and describing Marshall's plan as "inimical" to the service. This left Marshall "livid," not least because she expected that Mills, as a woman who had fought her way to the top, would be more understanding. "If I was suitable to do the job as a man I could hardly be less suitable as a woman," said Marshall.

Although there was no legal recourse for Marshall at the time of the CPS' reversal, in 1996 the European Court of Justice decided in the landmark case of P v S versus Cornwall County that discrimination against transsexuals constituted illegal gender discrimination. Marshall filed a discrimination complaint against the CPS three months later. CPS argued that it was too late for the filing, and when a lower court refused to dismiss Marshall's case, CPS went to the Court of Appeal. It was shortly before those justices were to hear oral arguments that the settlement was reached. The terms are confidential, but the negotiations were described as "amicable."

Mills was a quite conservative Director of Public Prosecutions, but the effort to have Marshall's case dismissed seems to be out of step with current politics. Equal Opportunities Minister Alan Howarth understood the value of having the transgender lobby group Press for Change actively involved in revising a draft consultation paper on Legislation Regarding Discrimination on Grounds of Transsexualism after a number of groups protested its contents when it was released earlier this year. A newly released proposal by the Equal Opportunities Commission for a general overhaul of anti-discrimination laws included protection for the rights of transsexuals, even though sexual orientation was apparently left out of the final version to be covered by separate legislation.

Marshall, who underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1994, is currently employed as a bursar at Oxford University.



Hormones and Hearing

Contributed by Elly G
via Acoustical Society Journal
November 18,1998

Changes in otoacoustic emissions in a transsexual male uring treatment with estrogen Dennis McFadden, a) Edward G. Pasanen, and Narriman Lee Callaway Department of Psychology and Institute for Neuroscience, Mezes Hall 330, University of Texas, Austin,Texas 78712 (Received 20 December 1997; revised 1 June 1998; accepted 5 June 1998) Otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) were monitored in two human males undergoing estrogen treatment prior to sex-reversal surgery. In one subject, multiple spontaneous emissions (SOAEs) appeared where none had been evident previously. One reasonable interpretation is that (in this male, at least) androgens normally produced a suppressive effect on the cochlear mechanisms responsible for SOAEs, and that the decline in androgen levels produced by the estrogenic drug led to a reduction in that suppression. (c) 1998 Acoustical Society of America. @S0001-4966(98)03209-3#PACS numbers: 43.64.Jb, 43.64.Kc @BLM#

INTRODUCTION

This is an interim report on an on-going study of a special population of subjects. Most case studies have weaknesses that good experimental research does not have, and this study is no exception. Nevertheless, we believe that the outcomes to date are worth bringing to the attention of others interested in otoacoustic emissions (OAEs) @see Probst et al.(1991) for a review# and sex differences in the auditory system@see McFadden (1998) for a review#.

Females have more spontaneous otoacoustic emissions(SOAEs) and stronger click-evoked otoacoustic emissions(CEOAEs) than do males (Talmadge et al., 1993; McFaddenet al., 1996), and this difference exists in infants as well as adults (Burns et al., 1992; Norton, 1992). In recent times, this laboratory has been interested in the origin of this and other auditory sex differences. We have shown that females having male co-twins (opposite-sex dizygotic or OSDZtwins) have OAEs that are more like those of males than those of other females (McFadden, 1993; McFadden et al.,1996). Further, the CEOAEs of homosexual females are significantly weaker (the male direction) than those of heterosexual females (McFadden and Pasanen, 1998). Our working hypothesis is that prenatal exposure to high levels of androgens leads to weaker cochlear amplifiers (Davis, 1983), andthus to fewer SOAEs and weaker CEOAEs.

Transsexuals taking sex hormones to alter their bodily appearance present an opportunity to study further the effects of hormones on the auditory system. Two such subjects have been recruited to date. Both are genetic and phenotypic males who are taking estrogenic hormones prior to undergo-ing sex-reversal surgery.



PA Bar Owner Hangs Tough

Contributed by National Gay and Lesbian Task Forceıs

November 19,1998

Shot gun blasts, molotov cocktails, and death threats have not stopped Pat Cramer from creating a space for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community of southwestern Pennsylvania to gather. Despite death threats and physical attacks, the Casa Nova bar remains open. In an emotional speech at the closing session of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Forceıs (NGLTF) Creating Change conference, Pat Cramer, a straight woman and owner of the Casa Nova, discussed the ceaseless harassment and violence she and the barıs patrons have lived through for the past two years. Cramerıs speech culminated a powerful conference and painfully and poignantly epitomized so much of what the struggle of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people is about and the importance of straight allies to this struggle. At the close of Cramerıs remarks, participants spontaneously emptied the muffins and morning rolls from the breadbaskets on their tables and passed the baskets around the large ballroom. Conferees dug deep in their pockets for one dollar, ten dollar, and twenty-dollar bills and raised more than $1100 for the Casa Nova legal defense fund.

"Pat Cramer reminds us that the bravest people in our movement are the ones on the front lines in small cities and towns across the country. Pat Cramer reminds us that the commitment of resources for organizing in state and local communities is not an option, itıs a must. Pat Cramer reminds us why it is so important for our movement to gather every year to share ideas, resources, and strategies," said Kerry Lobel, NGLTF executive director.

Creating Change is the largest annual political conference of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender movement. Sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, this yearıs conference, the 11th annual, was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from November 11 ­ 15. Nearly 2000 grassroots organizers, funders, media, students, policy makers, lawyers, social service providers, organizers of community centers, anti-violence projects, state political organizations, religious groups, and more gathered for five full days of workshops, keynote speeches, networking meetings, impassioned debate, a rally, strategy discussions, and even some socializing.

Another major theme of the conference was youth, and youth were ever present throughout Creating Change. The local host committee included a youth subcommittee that coordinated free meals, housing, a youth information table, and reduced rates to conference events for youth. An all-day Youth Leadership Institute was organized by the Task Force and the National Youth Advocacy Coalition and was attended by approximately 80 youth. Among other things, participants discussed youth involvement in Equality Begins at Home. Plans are already taking shape and include a youth lobby day in California and a youth summit in Connecticut. In addition to more than 25 youth-related workshops, there was a two-part emergency campus meeting to discuss increases in anti-gay hostility on campuses. The meeting was attended by more than one hundred students, GLBT campus center directors, and allies who strategized on ways to confront and eradicate hate incidents on campuses. Both the quantity and quality of youth sessions at Creating Change were the result of years of advocacy by youth activists for greater inclusion in the conference.

The Creating Change Awards are a conference staple. This year, the Audre Lorde Project of Brooklyn, the Bisexual Resource Center of Boston, José Sarria of the San Francisco Imperial Court, and Pat Cramer, owner of the Casa Nova bar, were honored. The Task Force in turn was honored by President Clinton who issued a statement in celebration of the Task Forceıs 25th anniversary. Openly gay presidential appointee Richard Socarides personally delivered the letter to the conference.



Vermont Marriage Laws Challenged

Contributed by Jami Ward
via Associated Press
November 19,1998

MONTPELIER -- Vermont's contention that limiting marriage to heterosexual couples is good for procreation and child-rearing is discriminatory and unconstitutional, a lawyer for three gay couples told the state Supreme Court Wednesday.

In a case considered by gay advocates as the best hope for same-sex marriage, Beth Robinson argued that Vermont's 28-year-old ban doesn't serve to protect children.

"If the state's concern is about protecting children then that would be protected by allowing these couples to marry," she said, noting that two of the three couples have adopted.

State lawyers urged the court to turn down the couples' request to overturn the prohibition. In legal briefs and arguments to the court, they said marriage historically has been defined as a union between a man and a woman because same-sex couples can't biologically bear children.

"To say (otherwise) would be to say there's absolutely no connection between marriage and procreation," said Assistant Attorney General Eve Jacobs-Carnahan. "It's a unique social institution based on the sexual communion of a man and a woman."

Vermont is the only state with a Supreme Court considering the question of gay marriages. In this month's elections, voters in Hawaii and Alaska essentially overturned court rulings that were moving toward legalizing such unions.

Robinson said refusing to allow same-gender couples to marry was as discriminatory as bans on interracial marriage, first overturned by the California Supreme Court in 1948.

"The parallels between that case and this case are striking," she said.

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